This past Monday night’s episode of Gossip Girl was the episode entitled Valley Girls, the episode set the stage for the possible GG spinoff of the same title.

In the episode, the gang attended prom, and Lily (Kelly Rutherford) reflected on her teen years in LA.

We’ll start off with the prom scenes. This story starts off with Lily learning that Serena (Blake Lively) has decided to remain in jail to teach Lily a lesson. However, Dan (Penn Badgley) convinces Serena that she needs to go to prom. So, Dan convinces Serena’s grandmother to post her bail, and then he has Jenny (Taylor Momsen) design a gown for Serena for prom. He then picks her up in a cab and takes her to prom.

Serena goes to prom

Meanwhile, Blair (Leighton Meester) and Nate’s (Chace Crawford) prom plans keep getting destroyed from the limo service they chose to take them to prom all the way to Blair’s prom gown getting destroyed. However, Blair is presented with a gorgeous gown that she had sketched as a little girl and thinks her father sent it to her. Blair and Nate get to prom to find out they’ve been nominated from Prom King and Queen. However, the mean girls are planning on making Nelly Yuki (Yin Chang) the winner as a slap in the face to Blair. Chuck (Ed Westwick) overhears the mean girls and removes all of the dummy votes for Nelly and replaces them with votes for Blair. Blair sees Chuck with the Nelly votes in his hand and assumes that he was going to rig the competition so Nelly would win. Blair and Nate are crowned king and queen, and Chuck admits to Serena that he’s the one that made it so Blair would win and he’s the one who had her dream gown made. Chuck really loves Blair. Blair does not learn any of this, but while dancing with Nate she comes to the realization that she and Nate are not meant to be and the two break up.

Blair and Nate break up

Lily turns to Rufus (Matthew Settle) for advice on how to deal with Serena and with her own mother. Rufus tells Lily that she is still finding herself and that she needs to make amends with her mother and Serena in order to begin progress. Lily tries to kiss Rufus, but he turns her down. However, there is definitely still a chance for these two.

Lily reflects on her past

While all of the shenanigans are going down, Lily reflects on her teen years. Teen Lily (Brittany Snow) gets kicked out of boarding school and head to L.A. to see her father (Andrew McCarthy). He basically rejects her and tries to get her back into boarding school, which she refuses. Lily’s mother (Cynthia Watros) tells Lily to come home, but Lily also refuses her offer. Instead, Lily goes looking for her sister, Carol (Krysten Ritter). She finds Carol, falls for a boy, meets her future husband and kicks the crap out of him, and finds herself in jail with Carol. Carol and Lily decide to live together and they get released from jail.

A younger Lily with her father

Now for my opinions. First, the good. The episode was ok. I liked that Blair and Nate finally ended their relationship. I liked that we got to see a very sweet side of Chuck. I liked the cast of Valley Girls. I loved that Nelly Yuki and Dorota (Zuzanna Szadowski) were both featured.

Dorota and Blair

What I didn’t like. I felt like the characterization was all over the place. I didn’t really feel like the characters would react the way they did to certain situations. I didn’t like how the mean girls went after Blair when they’ve been worshipping her for years. I didn’t care for the Valley Girls storyline (though I LOVED the 80’s music!). I was unhappy that Georgina’s (Michelle Trachtenberg) story was dropped completely for the episode. It kind of felt like the whole episode was out of continuity with what’s been happening lately. And it didn’t really make that much sense that Lily would be reflecting on her teen years so much throughout the episode. It just really wasn’t that good in my opinion.

That said, next week’s episode “The Goodbye Gossip Girl” looks AMAZING! It’s the season finale, and here’s what we know so far…

Blair and Chuck might be getting back together, Gossip Girl launches gossip that ticks off the Upper East Side Gang, Serena goes after Gossip Girl and finds someone that is connected to GG herself, Dan and Serena’s half brother shows up (but we wont know who he is until the last second of the show), Jenny takes Blair’s spot as queen of Constance Billard now that Blair is graduating, Serena hooks up with someone, and Georgina returns to wrap up her storyline. Plus it’s graduation! It should be an exciting hour next week!!!

Second, it appears that the GG spinoff, Valley Girls, may not actually happen. It has been reported that it’s too early for the show to be dead in the water, however, news is pouring in that the CW is really putting it’s money in the new Melrose Place and Vampire Diaries, and Valley Girls has kind of been pushed to the back burner. Keep those fingers crossed gang!

Next up, looks like Gossip Girl fashions will be coming to a store near you very soon. Target has picked up a license to sell a clothing line based on the Gossip Girl show.

Finally, here are some pictures from tonight’s episode of Gossip Girl. The episode is called Valley Girls and would be the springboard for the spinoff if it actually happens. (The pics above of the Rhodes Sisters and Blair and Nate at the prom are also from the episode).

Last night’s Gossip Girl (entitled The Wrath of Con) was AWESOME!!!!! So much great stuff to talk about.

First up, early on in the episode, Blair (Leighton Meester) and Nate (Chace Crawford) go to see Serena (Blake Lively) and comfort her after she found out that Gabriel (Armie Hammer) took her money (and the money of many of her family’s friends) and ran. While they are comforting her, Chuck (Ed Westwick) enters the room, leaving Georgina (Michelle Trachtenberg) in the living room. Then Dan (Penn Badgley) walks in to talk Serena into going to family brunch. Finally, Georgina walks in the room and all hell breaks loose. It was SO awesome to see all these characters in one room together and their reactions to Georgina…who is now a Bible toting Christian.

Chuck, Nate, Serena, Vanessa, Jenny, Dan, and Blair

So, the gang sets up an elaborate plan to get Gabriel. Serena calls him and leaves him a voice mail saying she’s preggers. That causes Gabriel to call her right back and set up a date with her. At the restaurant, Serena confronts Gabriel about stealing all the money, but Gabriel says that it was actually Poppy (Tamara Feldman) who stole all the money. Serena lets Gabriel leave, and the gang now has to figure out how to get at Poppy. Since Poppy knows all of them, it will be harders. Enter Georgina.

Gabriel, Poppy, and Serena

Blair realizes that Georgina could be VERY useful in their scheme to get Poppy, so she convinces Georgina to set up Poppy. Georgina is hesitant to do this b/c God would not approve of her lying. However, Blair convinces her that God brought her back to the Upper East Side so she could redeem herself with the gang by doing this. Georgina agrees, and Blair makes the statement “Poppy makes the old Georgina look like the new Georgina”. Too funny!

Georgina, Blair, and Nate

Later, Georgina and Poppy meet for lunch and Georgina asks if she could invest in Poppy’s company. Poppy agrees, takes Georgina’s money, and runs. The gang had called the cops to arrest Poppy, but Serena’s mother, Lily (Kelly Rutherford) was against this scheme all along b/c she didn’t want Serena’s name all over the tabloids, so Lily has Serena arrested for stealing jewelry. Serena gets arrested, and Poppy runs off with the money.

Serena getting arrested!

Blair confronts Georgina believing that Georgina set this all up to get even with the gang for the events of last year. She tells Georgina that she’ll NEVER forgive her. This causes Georgina to reflect on the person she’s become.

Meanwhile, the Nate-Blair-Chuck love triangle heated up and Nate asked Chuck to either confess his love for Blair or back off so Nate and Blair could be together. Blair and Chuck have a heart to heart and she gives him the opportunity to tell her he loves her, but Chuck says it’s just all a game to him and he hates to lose. Blair runs to Nate and they make up.

Nate, Blair, and Chuck

Also, Rufus (Matthew Settle) has decided to propose to Lily. He meets with Eric (Connor Paolo) to discuss, and he and Jenny (Taylor Momsen) set up a beautiful dinner or lunch where Rufus will propose. While he’s setting up the dining room, he comes across papers Lily stashed away about the whole Gabriel/Poppy debacle. He realizes that the money was stolen and that Lily is paying back all the investors out of her own pocket. He also realizes that Lily was going to lie to him and make him think that his money was actually growing, and she was going to pay him out of her own pocket his dividends. Infuriated, Rufus decides not to propose, and asks Jenny and Dan to return the engagement ring.

Lily and Rufus

Finally, at the end of the episode, Serena is still locked up and Blair phone rings outside the police station. It’s Georgina, and we see that she’s following Poppy. She tells Blair that she’s going to do the job that the rest of the gang couldn’t. Blair says that Georgina sounds funny. Georgina says “Tell Jesus the Bitch is back!”. She hangs up and has her taxi follow Poppy in the limo. AWESOME!

Georgina: The Bitch is Back!

Last night this show was just amazing. So many great lines, I loved that the entire cast, minus Vanessa (Jessica Szohr) was tied up in the same story, and it was great to see Georgina’s claws come back out. And how great was it that when Jenny was trying to distract Lily while Rufus set up the meal for the proposal, that Jenny was giving Lily a synopsis of Edward and Bella’s romance in the Twilight series? Perfect! Because a girl her age would obviously be reading those books.

Also, I checked out Gossip Girl Insider this morning and it still appears that Chuck and Blair will get back together in the season finale. Also, it seems that Rufus and Lily’s lovechild will not only turn up in the season finale, but that he will also be a regular on the series next year. Michael Ausiello reports that the actor playing their son is an unknown just as Jessica Szohr was before she joined the cast of Gossip Girl. Cool stuff!

Next week’s episode, Valley Girls, will introduce the major players of the GG spinoff and will obviously flashback to Lily’s teen years in Los Angeles. I’m really looking forward to it!

OK, first off, two more pics of Blair from the prom portion of the episode:

Blair (Leighton Meester) gets crowned.

Blair (Leighton Meester) and Serena (Blake Lively)

In this same episode, we will be introduced to some of the cast of the Gossip Girl spinoff, Valley Girls. Remember, Valley Girls takes place in the 80’s and is based around Serena’s mother’s (Kelly Rutherford) life when she was a teenager. Here are some pics…

The May 11th episode of Gossip Girl will feature Brittany Snow playing a younger Lily Rhodes, better known as Lily Rhodes Van der Woodsen Bass (played by Kelly Rutherford). This will be the springboard for the Gossip Girl spinoff that finally has a title…Valley Girls. The spinoff will take place in California in the 80’s, and rumor has it that it may cross over with characters from the now defunct tv show, The OC (both shows are created by Josh Schwartz).

Kelly Rutherford as Lily Rhodes Van der Woodsen Bass

Brittany Snow as a younger Lily Rhodes

Also a fun tidbit, the band No Doubt will appear in the GG flashback sequences as an 80’s band named Snow Doubt.

My favorite show for the last 2 years has definitely been Gossip Girl. This show is EVERYTHING I could want in a prime time soap. Great villains, awesome one liners, great stories, fantastic fashions, awesome setting (NYC), a beautiful cast, great music, and fast paced. Who could ask for anything more. And the promos for the show do not lie…these are the best promos I’ve ever seen for a show (in my opinion).

These first 4 promos feature quotes from actual reviews of the show. The powers that be figured they’d take their negative reviews and feature them in the promos. I think that’s great marketing!